| What educational format is best for the ADD | | | | whole child. Finally, it is important to gravitate to |
| ADHD child? As a parent, there are many choices, | | | | schools that interweave the development of |
| and increasingly popular choices, to public | | | | critical thinking with the development of personal |
| education. While making a decision may seem | | | | responsibility. |
| more difficult in the case of ADD/ADHD, the | | | | Other things to consider: |
| process is the same for the parent of any child. | | | | · Does the child need structure or is he |
| A recent article in USA Today reports that home | | | | she self-structuring? |
| schooling has been on a steady rise for the last | | | | · How well does the child function |
| five years. There are now 1.5 million children being | | | | independently? |
| home schooled, up 74% since 1999. A desire for | | | | · Does the child have difficulty dealing |
| religious or moral instruction, formerly the number | | | | with change? |
| one reason to choose homeschooling, is now the | | | | · Does the child relate better to a male |
| second most popular reason. The first reason is | | | | or a female teacher -- or does it matter? |
| safety and avoidance of peer pressure and | | | | · What is the child's social skill level with |
| exposure to drugs. Third is the dissatisfaction with | | | | peers and, if this is a challenge, how does the |
| academic instruction and fourth is interest in | | | | school deal with those kinds of issues? |
| nontraditional approaches. | | | | · What kind of participation is required of |
| Current statistics indicate that the number of | | | | the parent, and is this level of participation possible |
| alternative educational/school choices, not including | | | | within the framework of the entire family? |
| religious based schools or military schools, is | | | | If the parents are investigating home schooling, |
| somewhere around twelve thousand. That is the | | | | there are some pros and cons to consider. |
| largest number of choices ever to exist outside | | | | On the positive side, there are many educational |
| the traditional public school system and the | | | | support programs for home schooling currently |
| number keeps growing. | | | | available and more coming on line all the time. |
| Obviously, the selection of public versus private | | | | They vary in participation level needed by the |
| includes many factors, among them the practical | | | | parent. Just like shopping for a school, the parent |
| aspects of cost, location, transportation and does | | | | needs to look for an education support program |
| the alternative represent a basic ideology that the | | | | that will best work with the specific child and with |
| parent feels would be detrimental to the child. | | | | the family. Home schooling can allow a child to |
| What follows is a look at some of the factors in | | | | learn at his/her own pace and can be creatively |
| choosing an educational format. | | | | modified as the child goes on. |
| Determining the educational goal, as a parent, is an | | | | On the negative side of home schooling is the |
| easy way to eliminate whole groupings of | | | | stress on the parents. Does the home schooling |
| alternative educational choices. However, a parent | | | | parent have a flexible teaching style and can that |
| might be wise to avoid automatically eliminating, | | | | parent switch between the teaching and the |
| for example, religiously based schools because | | | | parenting roles easily? The teaching parent should |
| they are simply not of the family's religion. A | | | | currently communicate well with the child and |
| school might be quite passive about religious | | | | have been successful in helping the child learn new |
| "recruitment" of the child, as are many Catholic | | | | things and to develop new skill sets. As a simple |
| private schools, or they may be very active, | | | | measure, how has the parent done on helping the |
| even aggressive, in the "recruitment" of a child, as | | | | child with his/her homework to date? There may |
| are many more fundamentally based religious | | | | be resentment between parents caused by the |
| schools. In one case, a parent chose such a school | | | | time, energy, and effort required for teaching, on |
| because of its educational quality but did not fully | | | | one hand, and by the resulting relationship with the |
| understand the aggressiveness of the school in | | | | child on the other. More effort will be required of |
| converting her child to its belief system. At least | | | | the parents to ensure that the child gets both |
| not until her child started coming home every | | | | sufficient social interaction and is exposed to the |
| day, in tears, begging her mother to convert | | | | diversity that the world has to offer, including |
| because she would go to hell if she didn't. Upon | | | | opinions other than the parent's own. Finally, can |
| further questioning, it was clear that the school | | | | the parents help the child to develop the skill sets |
| had made the child responsible for the task of | | | | to manage well in the world when the home |
| converting the mother. The child was nine. The | | | | schooling ends? |
| mother moved the child the following week. | | | | Home schooling is a viable option. If the parents |
| Next, we want to look at the child. It is | | | | live in a big enough area, they are even likely to |
| imperative to look at the child from multiple | | | | find local home schooling groups that do things |
| perspectives, not just does he/she have ADD | | | | together. The home schooled child may also |
| ADHD. Because ADD plays out differently based | | | | attend a class here or there in order to fill out the |
| on learning style, processing style and | | | | educational experience. The parents need to |
| communication style, the parent should find the | | | | make an extra effort in the area of social skills, |
| school that either actively teaches in a variety of | | | | to be wary of creating an unhealthy attachment |
| styles or specializes in the styles that best enable | | | | or dependency on themselves and to guard |
| his/her child to learn. The parent should also | | | | against becoming insular in a way that limits the |
| consider aspects such as the child's emotional age | | | | child in dealing with the ever-growing diversity of |
| and if the child has already found his/her | | | | the world. |
| passion(s) in life. If the child is brilliant in computer | | | | The key to finding a successful educational |
| programming and development and could possibly | | | | format for the child is for the parents to do their |
| be the next Bill Gates, the parent would be wise | | | | own homework! They need to determine what |
| to enroll that child in a school program that | | | | their educational priorities are and to diligently |
| specializes in dealing with technically gifted children, | | | | investigate their options in light of the whole child |
| as long as all the other bases are covered. | | | | regardless of ADD/ADHD. |
| Personality and gender also play a role in the | | | | |